Desperation Beef

My mother captured the original recipe in the early 1970's (I still remember transcribing the recipe card on our old manual typewriter).

• Ready In: 45 mins
• Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

• 1  lb beef stew meat
• 2  medium fresh tomatoes
• 1  green pepper (recipe only says green pepper, but I think it's one chopped fine)
• 1  sliced onion (but the recipe specifies chopped fine)
• 1 (8 ounce) can mushrooms (recipe doesn't specify, but this seems reasonable)

Directions

1. Cut beef into very small pieces.
2. Brown slightly, add 3/4 cup water and other ingredients cut up into small pieces.
3. Simmer till beef is done.
4. My notes:
5. * This recipe was written when stew beef was the scribbly bits they cut off of everything else and was about the cheapest meat available. I suppose you could use store-ground beef for the same reason; if so it should be drained before adding the other ingredients. I used "beef for stroganoff" because it was the cheapest cut available that day. The meat is cut small to cook faster.
6. * I think the recipe is calling for 1 green pepper, chopped.
7. * I used the mushrooms undrained for a bit more liquid; it does boil away.
8. * The gravy is like an au-jus when you're done. I thickened it with a tablespoon of cornstarch to make a more substantial gravy.
9. * This is a sort of stove-top stew. It predates Hamburger Helper. It's not a bad recipe, but could do with some tweaking.